7- That Other Guy
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"I didn't lose this time," Rui told Hiruma.
He was supposed to be telling his team off about how crap they'd played against the Devil Bats, but Hiruma had got there first and had told him not to bother. He'd also pulled him onto the ground and pressed his mouth hard into Rui's.
"It's still your team," Hiruma said, when he broke away, face all victorious. "Therefore you lose."
"I'm not in it anymore,"
Hiruma shrugged. "Details, details," and kissed him again, even harder.
When Rui was given enough space for air, he pushed his hand against Hiruma's chest and tried to look pissed off.
"I shoulda actually read that damn letter."
"Yeah, you should of," Hiruma smirked. He tilted Rui's head up. "Would have thought you'd know me better by now."
"You just like humiliating me,"
"Yeah?" Hiruma said, like it wasn't a problem. Then he looked like he was thinking about it. "Maybe I just like having you around, stupid."
Rui prickled with the words. Not in a bad way, though. "You're insane," he said.
"Yeah, well you're a freak. It's nice and even."
Rui couldn't argue with that; besides the fact that Hiruma was too busy kissing him again, he kind of agreed anyway.
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"Can you get me a bunch of footballs, from that place across the road?" Hiruma said, sounding impatient on the phone. "Oh, and some of those purple candies, you know the ones. In the red wrappers."
Rui rubbed his eyes and checked the clock. It was stupid o'clock again, and Hiruma was demanding something even more stupid.
Rui couldn't remember a time he hadn't somehow been looped into doing whatever Hiruma wanted.
"The store is right opposite your clubhouse," he said.
"I know,"
Rui hung up and slung on whatever clothes he could find. Then he hesitated at his reflection in the mirror, and thought about Hiruma being there. He ended up doing his hair a bit more and putting on different clothes.
When he reached the clubhouse Hiruma wasn't there anyway. Rui wasn't so much disappointed as he was annoyed.
"Where's that damn demon?" he asked Sena, who looked small and cautious, like he always did when Rui was around. For a while Rui had found it amusing, now he didn't really care, and sometimes wished the kid would be get more of a backbone.
"Err, he said he'd be here. I-I think he's late,"
Rui looked about, then dumped the bag of footballs in front of Sena. "Well. Give him these when he decides to show up."
He walked away, and pretended to ignore Sena;
"Th-thanks, Habashira-san! It's really appreciated!"
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Rui didn't see Hiruma for a couple of weeks. He didn't count or anything; he guessed he'd just got used to seeing the demon that often recently.
When they did meet it was in the street and by accident. Rui bumped into a broad chest, and he looked up to see a face he didn't recognise at all.
"Oh, sorry," the guy said at once, and smiled politely.
Rui frowned; the guy was tall and had lots of muscle. Rui wasn't really intimidated by that sort of thing, but instinct and experience sent his hand toward his coat pocket, where his knife was.
"Don't worry about him, it's just Rui."
Rui blinked, and turned his head to see Hiruma.
The demon was close to the other guy, and his hand rested on one of the broad shoulders like it belonged there.
"Rui? Oh, you mean the Zokugaku guy?"
"Yeah, that guy," Hiruma laughed, and it made Rui's stomach hurt. "C'mon, old man."
"Well," the 'Old Man' was still smiling at Rui, but for some reason Rui really wanted to punch him. "Nice to meet you. I'm Musashi."
"Hi," Rui said blankly. He still wanted to punch him.
Hiurma was grinning behind them both. Of course, he would enjoy it.
"C'mon, let's go," the demon slipped an arm round Musashi's back.
"See you around, Rui."
Rui looked at the ground. "Seeya."
He didn't look up for a little while. It was weird, like everything had frozen around him, and he needed a few minutes to catch up with himself.
He waited, but it didn't help. He looked at the figures ahead of him, that had become little specks in the distance. They were really close, and Rui had noticed the way Hiruma looked at Musashi. He knew that look pretty well now.
He felt it a lot when he looked at Hiruma too.
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"You've been working on that thing two days straight. Don't you think you need to do other stuff? Like eat?"
Megu's sarcastic voice was also concerned. Rui knew her well enough. Nothing ever got past her.
He dropped a spanner and emerged from under his bike. "You wanna go get somethin' to eat?"
Megu's face softened in such a rare moment, and her lips curved a smile. "Alright."
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It wasn't that Rui was trying to get over Hiruma. There was nothing to get over, and he didn't really give a fuck what Hiruma did with other guys. No, he didn't.
He just needed to do something else, and Megu sat opposite him with her full lips and stern face, occasionally breaking into something different.
The way she laughed, and then the way she reached across the table and touched Rui's hand, it probably should've been something special.
But Rui just felt sick; the sort of sick that hit the pit of your stomach and told you it wasn't right. Even if you so badly wanted it to be.
"Um, I'm not that hungry now," he said, and stood up.
Megu blinked at him; "are you okay?"
She asked that a lot, and she could always tell when Rui wasn't. He was so bad at lying to her.
"I just feel kinda sick," well, that wasn't really a lie. "Sorry."
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"I've been ringing for like an hour, retard. Where are you?"
"Not doin' your bidding?"
"I can see that," Hiurma sounded pissed.
A smile crept on Rui's face. A bitter one, but it was better than nothing.
"You're still under my slave contract, remember?" Hiruma said. "I got a bunch of stuff that needs doing before the end of the day. You know it's the Christmas Bowl soon, right?"
Rui rolled on his back and looked up at the ceiling. He was lying on the couch where Hiruma had pinned him before, but he was trying not to think about that now.
"I'm done with it," he said, and hoped he sounded fierce. "I'm not your fuckin' slave no more."
There was a tiny pause on the other end of the phone. Then Hiruma spoke; "what's brought this on?" he sounded curious above anything else.
Rui swallowed, privately relieved. He'd expected a round of expletives. "Whaddya think?" he said. "You know I've got a life too, right? Y' think I can go running after you all the time?"
Hiruma laughed spikily. "Believe me, you've not been doing any of the running."
Rui felt odd with the way Hiruma spoke. "What's that supposed to mean?"
A sigh blew down the phone. "Forget it. I wouldn't want you to strain your oblivious brain."
Rui gripped the phone tighter, feeling it crack. "Think I'm gonna help you out when ya talk to me like that? Fuck that."
His finger twitched, and he wanted to hang up so badly, but Hiruma replied too fast;
"You know I don't mean it, you retard."
"I don't know what ya mean!"
It felt good to yell. Rui didn't intend to keep talking, but somehow his mouth had found a life of it's own. "I never know what you mean! Like what the fuck did the other day mean, when you were with that other guy?"
His breath froze in his mouth; he didn't think he'd be able to breathe again till Hiruma answered him.
The pause on the other end was too long and unbearable.
"Fuck." the demon said at last, and then the phone went dead.
Rui stared at it for the longest time. Then he curled his fingers the rest of the way round, and listened to the break with no satisfaction at all.
"Fuck."
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a/n: sorry for late update! i am carrying on with this =)